Sinbad and the Ren family
by SilverSnowflake9798
Summary: Sinbad and Hakuei have been dating for almost a year now, but she still won't let him meet any of her family other than her younger brother Hakuryuu. Finally Sinbad decides to take matters into his own hands. Sinbad Hakuei pairing, but mostly a Ren family story. Alternate universe, modern day.
1. Chapter 1

"You want to meet my family?" Hakuei stared at her boyfriend like he had just suggested they moved to Narnia and destroy the witch. Sinbad on the other hand thought it was a great idea.

"Yeah!" he smirked his trademark smirk. "We've been dating for long enough. Why not?" Hakeui could find a million reasons why they shouldn't.

"W-we haven't been dating THAT long." Sinbad raised an eyebrow at her from across the lunch table.

"Hakuei. Last week was our one year anniversary."

"That's not that long…"

"Hakeui!"

"Some people don't introduce their boyfriends to their family for…five years!" she guessed she would be ready by then.

"Sure Hakuei. And those people are snails," Sinbad argued. As she tried to come up with an argument he reached under the table and grabbed her free hand. Glancing up at him the two of them had their own mini stare-down. "What's the problem with it? I just want to come over and say hi, I don't have to become their favourite person. Besides, I know your brother already." Hakuryuu was only a few years younger than Sinbad. Once they had a class together.

Still unconvinced Hakeui shook her head. "Well my family is…why do you want to meet them anyway? Where did this come from?" Sinbad shrugged trying to seem nonchalant, but in truth this was really bugging him.

Flashback (two days ago)

"You haven't met Hakuei's family yet?" Sharkon had asked him on their way back from grade 12 biology. "I thought you two were dating for a while."

"We have!" Sinbad defended himself as he placed his books in his locker. Sharkon shook his head, unconvinced.

"Dude, I've been dating Yamu not even half the time that you have, and I met her dad before we even started officially dating." Yamu and Sharkon had been dating for almost 3 months now, even though the two fought a lot.

Unsure, Sinbad asked his friend, "Is it a bad thing I haven't met them?" Everyone knew how Sinbad used to be the biggest player almost anyone had ever met. The longest relationships he had been in during grades 9-10 and some of eleven would be one week. That is, until he met Hakeui. It was BOOM and he wasn't a player anymore. As far as anyone knew, he was completely loyal to her, no matter how many advances he got from others. But because of his little experience in long-term relationships he was still having a hard time understanding how they worked.

Sharkon shrugged. "Dunno bro. most of my pals at least met their girlfriends family within the first few months, sometimes even on the first date. It's a drag, but it's a girl's way of showing she wants to stay in a relationship with you." Sinbad couldn't believe he was getting dating advice from who used to be the number 2 player at the school.

"By showing you off to her siblings?" it sounded strange, but Sharkon nodded firmly.

"Yup." At his confusion, Sharkon tried to explain. "Look at it this way. Family is usually a big part of everyone's lives. If she introduces you to them that means she's saying that she wants you to be a big part of her life to." That was easy to understand. Hakuei always said how much she cared about her siblings, especially her younger brother Hakuryuu.

"You might be worried that she hasn't introduced you to them yet." Sinbad almost dropped his bag.

"Worried? Why?" Sharkon made a face at his friend.

"Yamu told me how much Hakuei's family matters to her. If she was right, than Hakuei would have introduced you to her family right away. Or at least you would have met them when picking her up from her place." He hadn't. Whenever he went to pick her up she was waiting in the driveway. He never even saw anyone other than Hakuryuu.

"But…I'm sure the thought just hasn't occurred to her right?" Sensing his friends worry Sharkon hurried to help.

"Yeah yeah, of course! She probably just doesn't want you to mess up in front of them." he didn't realize how stupid he sounded until he said it. "I mean no! Her family would love you man, don't worry about it!" sometimes Sinbad's friends could be idiots. Now he was freaking out. Was Hakuei embarrassed of him? They were even planning on going to the same University, and she couldn't introduce him to her family? Not even a hello?

End flashback

Her reaction wasn't helping. "I don't know when you will get the chance to meet my family anyway. They are always so busy, I don't know when they would all be together." His right eye was starting to unconsciously twitch. Why was she avoiding this subject?

"A-and besides, I haven't met your family yet!" Sinbad's parents had died when he was a kid, and he currently lived in a big orphanage owned by some millionaire or whatever. Everyone expected Sinbad to take over his business when he was old enough, that is if he didn't go through with his own plan to work for national security.

"Yes you have. Yamu, Sharkon, Jafar, Masrur, Pisti, Spartos, Drakon, and Hinahoo. You've met all of them." Hakeui had become very close with all of Sinbad's friends. They all adored her caring yet independent nature. At the beginning they just said they were just happy Sinbad was in an actual relationship. Now they were truly happy it was Hakuei he was in a relationship with.

"That's different Sinbad. I know a lot of them from school. I met Jafar and Yamu before I met you!" He couldn't argue with that. But it still worried him that she was avoiding this.

"Okay, that's true. But why can't I meet them? I already know Hakuryuu, what would make the rest of your family any different? Besides, you told me about them!" As he racked his brains for examples, he realized this wasn't true. He knew most about Hakuryuu because he was his friend, but not much about the rest. She had a younger brother because sometimes she had to pick him up from school. An elder brother to, because one time she told him that she was going to her brother's university. Possibly a sister, since once she had to get some earrings for someone's birthday.

"It's not that they won't like you, I…" she trailed over to quickly for Sinbad's liking. Hakeui was a very honest person. It worried him that she was avoiding the subject now. Gently she squeezed his hand and smiled at him. "Just, not right now, okay?" He said okay, there was no way he was going to let it go.

"Why couldn't my sister drive me home again?" Sinbad grinned at Hakuryuu who sat in the passenger seat of his car. A few days after Hakeui and Sinbad's conversation Sinbad decided to take matters in his own hands. Normally Hakuryuu and Hakeui would drive home together, but luckily for Sinbad Hakeui had a spare her last class. With the help of Alibaba (Hakuryuu's friend) they were able to convince her that Hakuryuu was staying after school to work on a project.

"She went home early and asked me to drive you home. Do I turn right here?" Hakuryuu glanced suspiciously at Sinbad, but didn't want to argue with his friend.

"No, you turn left." Spinning the wheel they turned on the road towards the Ren family house. "If you want you can drop me off at the driveway. It's a really long driveway, and there's no point in making you drive all the way up."

"No it's fine. I've come to pick Hakeui up a few times, it's not that far." Hakuryuu didn't continue after that. After a few minutes of silence Sinbad asked him, "Say, how many people live in your house?"

"What?" Sinbad tried to look him in the eye but almost hit a cat, so decided to keep his eyes on the road.

"Your house is pretty big. Do you have a big family?" Hakuryuu shook his head at the question.

"We do have a big family, but the big house is mostly because our unc-er, stepfather needs it. He's a big business owner and he often has business parties at our house, so he needs lots of room. Some of his coworkers live with us too, as well as some maids and servants." Sinbad understood that. His own adoptive parent, or whatever he would call him, had work parties at the orphanage every once in a while.

Driving up the driveway they came to the Ren family's home. Hakuryuu jumped out the passenger seat and Sinbad hopped out the side. Turning he frowned at Sinbad. "What's wrong Sin?"

Innocently he smiled. "Nothing." Still confused Hakuryuu continued to question him.

"Then why are you getting out of the car?"

"Oh, um…" he hadn't planned this far ahead. "Uh…I have to get some class notes." This didn't help him very much.

"You and Hakuei don't have any of the same classes this semester." Snap. Scrambling his brain he came up with an explanation.

"They are for Pisti." Hakuryuu had no argument against that one. Silently the two boys headed up to the large front door and Hakuryuu rang the doorbell. "Don't you have a key?" Hakuryuu shook his head.

"There's always someone in the house, so I stopped bothering." Before Sinbad could comment the door was opened quickly. A man with short reddish brown hair stood at the entrance. He didn't look that much older that Hakuei, but he wore a uniform with a nametag. Smiling Hakuryuu greeted him easily. "Hey Dolge."

The older man smiled easily at the younger boy. "Hi Hakuryuu. School was good?" Hakuryuu nodded as he moved out of the way for the two of them to walk in. At Sinbad he gave a confused look. "Uh, hello. Who are you?"

"Hi, I'm Sinbad." He held out his hand for Dolge to take, but he simply stared at the man. Hakuryuu came to his rescue quickly.

"He goes to the same school as Hakeui and I." Dorji light up and gave Sinbad a smile in return.

"Oh, you know Hakuei? Are you friends with her?" As he took his hand and shook it Sinbad wondered just how he was going to explain that they were a little bit more than friends. Once again, Hakuryuu came to his rescue by asking him where everyone was.

"Today's been fairly strange. As far as I know, all your siblings will be home for dinner." Sinbad couldn't believe his luck. They were all there the exact day he needed them to be. It was so perfect he wanted to hug him. Not noticing Sinbad's overly happy face Dolge continued explaining. "Kouen is in town for a business trip and he's staying with us for a month or so. Koumei is taking the week off school to relax. Kourin and her husband are taking a family trip and decided to come back here for a time. As far as I know all of your other siblings don't have any clubs or activities going on tonight. It's going to be a problem for the cooks since they have to cook so much." Even Hakuryuu was surprised. The only time the whole family was together was on holidays. Kouen was the CEO of his father's company so had to travel a lot, but hardly ever came home. Koumei went to a very prestigious university to become a lawyer, but he hardly ever came home because of the distance. Kourin had never gotten along with the family, so he wondered why she would WANT to come home. It was so coincidental this was all happening that he was suspicious that he was dreaming.

Sinbad, who didn't know anything about how that family worked, found no problem with it. "Any chance I can stay for dinner? Or would that be too hard on the staff?" Dolge shook his head.

"With all the people we already have living in this building? One more person wouldn't make a difference. I'll just ask Toya to put out another plate." Sinbad thanked him than he and Hakuryuu walked away. As they left Sinbad asked him who he was.

"Dolge? Oh, he's from the Kouga clan. His family works as the staff here." Around them more people who resembled Dorji walked around doing various chores. "They are a very tight knit group and this was one of the only ways they could all work yet still live together.

But anyway, do you want me to get my sister?" when Sinbad gave him a blank look he continued. "To get the notes you wanted."

"Oh, right. No, I'll go find her, don't worry about it." Hakuryuu didn't look very comfortable with that idea.

"Really, it's no trouble. You haven't been here before, and it's hard to navigate. Besides, I'm not sure Hakuei would be happy if you found-'' but he cut himself off before he could finish, but Sinbad caught it. Was Hakuei hiding something? "I mean, it's hard to get around here."

"I've got a good sense of direction, I'll find my way around. See you Hakuryuu." Before Hakuryuu could stop him Sinbad dashed away and began hunting for his girlfriend's family.

**I don't own any of the characters. thanks for reading. not sure what else to say. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As he strolled along the long hallways what Hakuryuu had tried to say began to haunt his mind. _I'm not sure Hakeui would be happy if you found- _what? What could she have that she would want to hide from him? A messy room? Her without her makeup? A dead body? He wasn't arrogant enough to assume he knew everything about her, but what would she want to hide?

His thoughts got interrupted as he heard the sound of girls screaming. "YOU LET GO OF THAT, THAT'S MY SKIRT!" "NUH UH! I BOUGHT IT!" "A-actually, it's mine." "YOU CAN'T PROVE THAT!" "NEITHER CAN YOU!" "y-yes I can! I have the receipt right here-''"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" following that came the sound of running footsteps. That grew louder. And louder. As Sinbad turned a hallway to see where it was coming from he almost got run over by two- no, three young girls. They all had dark pink hair and wore fancy outfits. They all had expensive accessories and lots of makeup, but at the moment all the makeup in the world wouldn't help the two of them that fell to the ground. The third ran straight into Sinbad and he was able to stabilize the two of them before they fell.

"You give that back!" "NO! It's mine!" On the ground the two girls continued to fight over the tiny skirt made of a fine fabric. They were wearing far too expensive cloths to be working there, not to mention way too loud. The girl who ran into Sinbad looked up at Sinbad immediately, but as soon as she saw him she jumped away and started turning red. Sinbad was dumbstruck for a moment, but thanks to his quick thinking he was able to take control of the situation.

"Ladies, ladies please! There must be an easier way to solve this problem than attacking such beautiful faces." They both stopped at the complement and looked up at Sinbad. Still as charming as ever he knelt down and gently took one of the girl's hands helping her to her feet, doing the same with the other. The two of them miraculously regained their dignity as soon as they saw just how attractive the man they had almost trampled was. The two angry girls looked older younger than Sinbad, but not by much. The other girl looked much younger, almost Hakuryuu's age. She was watching Sinbad in an adoring fascination, but blushed whenever he looked at her. Ignoring it he turned to the group as a whole. "Now would one of you lovely ladies please explain what the problem is?"

The eldest one, or who he guessed was the eldest one, held up a purple skirt embedded with little jewels. "The skirt is mine, and my sister says it is hers." the other one turned on her sister viciously.

"Is not! I bought it first!" Sinbad waved a hand to get their attention before they broke into another fight. This was all about one skirt? They were about to claw each other's eyes out for one piece of clothing? Did this house have that many problems? Where was the Ren family to deal with all of this?

The younger one shyly walked up to him and tapped his shoulder. When he looked at her she blushed deep red, but spoke in a voice so quiet he had to strain to hear her.

"T-the skirt is mine. I have a receipt for when I bought it." With a shaking hand she held the slip of paper up as proof. Behind him the other girls snorted at her.

"Please, that paper is obviously fake. That girl is always lying, you can't trust her." the younger sister hung her head in embarrassment. But the girl had such an innocent face, and the only one of the three who had any proof. Sinbad held out his hand for the receipt and the girl gave it to him, quickly pulling her hand away.

"It certainly looks real to me." The other sister rolled her eyes.

"She probably hired someone to make it for her, that little freak." Once again the other girl tried to hide behind Sinbad from her own sister's anger. Sinbad wondered what kind of family these girls were in to treat their siblings so terribly.

"Hired someone for one skirt? That cost…14$?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow. This time the two rude girls had no answer. But for the sake of argument, he tested the girl. Covering up the paper he turned to her and asked, "what day did you get it? The date exactly?"

Nervously she fidgeted with her hands as she racked her brain trying to come up with an answer. "It was…Thursday, May 11th I think. I-I went with Judal-kun to get some lunch and I saw it while we were in the mall. He thought it was ugly, but I liked it." Turning back to the girls he held up the paper so they could read it.

"It's the same date that's on the paper." They grabbed the paper to get a closer look at it. As they did Sinbad took the skirt out of the girl's manicured nails and handed it to the younger, shy girl. "Sounds legit to me." Neither one of them looked too happy with this arrangement as they glared at the smaller girl. He guessed that as soon as he left these girls were going to destroy the other. "Besides ladies, you shouldn't be worried about one little skirt. The dresses you are wearing right now look absolutely fantastic." Like he had guessed, the two of them completely ate up the complement, standing up straighter and playing with their hair. "If you really want to get the skirt I'm sure such lovely ladies like you would be able to manage to find out where she got it and get it for yourselves to avoid this awkward predicament." The two girls didn't argue with that one bit.

After a few more compliments and charming words he had the two girls hooked on the idea of leaving their sister alone. They walked away satisfied, even though they had lost the battle. One of them blew him a kiss on their way out before her sister got angry for not thinking of it before she had. It was only when they had left the hallway that Sinbad realized the younger one hadn't left yet. Turning he gave a charming smile and the girl started blushing. Again. "Can I help you?"

"T-thank you for helping me deal with my sisters." The girl gave him a polite bow showing off the manners that beat her older sister's by a mile. "A-and may I ask who are you? Do you work with my father?" Sinbad shook his head.

"No, I'm looking for the Ren family. Do you know where any of them are?" lucky for him, the young girl nodded. Actually, she giggled a little, and Sinbad asked her what was so funny.

"If you were looking for the Ren family than you found them." holding out her hand she smiled a pretty smile at him. "Hello, my name is Kougyoku Ren. 8th and youngest daughter to the Ren family." Say what?

"SHE HAS 7 SISTERS?" After some conversation Sinbad told her that he went to Hakuei and Hakuryuu's school. After that she had no problem with explaining her family, unlike Hakuei and Hakuryuu had been. Kougyoku was in Hakuryuu's grade, with 3 other sister's in high school, 2 in university and college, and 1 who already married and left college. Hakuei had NEVER said she had so many siblings. "How many people are in her family?"

"Including her? Um… 12 since recently."

"12!"

"Not including parents. I'm not sure who I should include then, because there was my mother, Kouen's mother, Kouha's mom, and," Sinbad interrupted her quickly.

"Wait, you don't all have the same mom?" She stared at him like he was insane.

"No, we all have different parents. Well, sort of, Hakuei and Hakuryuu don't." she explained after she saw Sinbad's confusion. "Um, they and two others had the same mom and dad, but the rest of us all have a different mom." It was going to take a map for Sinbad to get his head around this family.

Glancing down at the girl he wondered why he had never met her before. She had said she was in Hakuryuu's grade. "What school do you go to?"

"I go to an all-girls school with my sisters, except for Hakuei that is." Ah. That would explain it.

"Why doesn't Hakuei go to the same school that you do?" at this Kougyoku turned to him suspiciously.

"Um…how did you say you knew my sister again?" he didn't realize he had said something that would make her suspicious. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable question to him. Before he could answer a flying soccer ball zoomed past their heads.

"WATCH IT KOUHA!" Kougyoku screamed at the little boy who ran past them to get the ball. The boy smiled up at her with a psychotic grin that sent shivers up Sinbad's spine. Along with him were three women who he guessed were servants. Kicking up the ball he began dribbling it in the air as Kougyoku glared at him.

"I was just practicing. The tournaments coming soon, and I want to win!" From the skills he was displaying it didn't look like he was going to have much of a problem. He kicked it up in the air and landed a head-but on the side sending it flying…right into a glass vase.

"KOUHA!" The younger boy didn't seem to notice as he ran picked up his ball again. Kougyoku on the other hand wasn't too happy about it. "Kouha that was dad's favourite vase!"

"He's got a hundred!" the kid snorted indignantly. That's when he noticed that they had a guest with them. "Hey, who's the purple pony-tail?" Sinbad had been called a lot of names over the years. Purple pony-tail was not one of them. Kougyoku on the other hand was starting to panic about the vase.

"W-what if dad finds out we broke it? I don't want dad to get mad! I-I'm going to go replace it, I'll see you later!" Without another word she charged through the hallways out of sight. That left Sinbad along with Kouha and his three servants.

"So. Who're you?" Not the most polite boy in the world. Then again, he never met too many polite 12 year olds. Or 13, he wasn't sure.

"My names Sinbad. I take it your one of the Ren family?" _please say no, please say no. _

"Yup. You here on some kinda business?" Drat.

"Sort of. My girlfriends one of your sisters." That didn't seem to have too much effect on the boy.

"Whatever. Most of my sister's don't even know my first name. I couldn't care less who their boyfriend for the week was." For the week? Sinbad hoped he wasn't including Hakeui in that equation. One of his servants whispered something in his ear which made him stop laughing. "Wait, is Kougyoku your girlfriend?" before Sinbad even got the chance to answer the kid threw his soccer ball in his stomach. It was such a shock Sinbad fell to the ground, and at that Kouha ran over and grabbed one of the pieces of glass and aimed it at his forehead. Sinbad didn't even have time to blink before he jumped on his chest and stood over him with the sharp glass threateningly. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH KOUGYOKU, I'LL SEND YOU TO YOUR GRAVE IN TEN SECONDS FLAT!" where did that come from? Behind him his associates tried to get him off but the boy would not budge. Sinbad would have pushed him off himself if he wasn't Hakuei's brother.

"She's not my girlfriend! I just met her!" With that Kouha seemed to calm down in less than a second.

"Good. Then you're welcome in this house." He slid off of him and Sinbad coughed quickly, struggling to breath. Two of the helpers went to help Sinbad to his feet while the other hugged the child. Hugged him. Like he did the RIGHT thing.

"Didn't you just say you didn't care about your sisters?" Kouha shrugged as if that whole exchange had never happened and they were all buddy buddy now.

"I don't. Most of them are spoiled and treat my friends terribly." He gestured to the three woman who now stood at his side. "The only ones I consider my siblings are Kougyoku and one other." Next thing he knew the boy had the deepest, scraggliest, darkest voice that Sinbad had ever heard. "**If you touch one of them I will kill you." **Than Kouha smiled and went back to normal instantly. "Remember that and we are all fine." Great. His girlfriend's brother was a sociopath.

Out of curiosity, Sinbad decided to push his luck. "So…who's saying I'm not dating the other one? You said there was another one you cared about, right?" Kouha glanced back at him as he led him down the hallway.

"Because she isn't. There's no way she would date you." Sinbad was slightly taken back. Sure he wasn't a model citizen, but he just met the kid!

"What's so bad about me?" Kouha quickly shook his head as he kicked his ball forward. It slid across the rug till it came to a complete stop and he kicked it again.

"You're here. If you were dating her she wouldn't have brought you here." He decided it would be best not to tell him that he hadn't been brought there. As they continued walking they found themselves in what Sinbad thought was the main hallway. The staircase leading upstairs stood in the middle of the area, with rooms and hallways surrounding it in a circle.

Out of one of the doors came another man, barely older than Sinbad. Along with him came another man, sunglasses covering his eyes. The other one, like Kouha, had fiery red hair, but it was tied back out of his face. This one looked very tired, like he had just woken up from a nap. Kouha grinned and waved at him. "Hey bro, you're awake!" the older boy yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"I just woke up. The time zone is different here than at school." He glanced at his watch but the time was set wrong. "What time is it? Will breakfast be ready soon?"

"No. But dinner will be." He groaned and the other man elbowed him to keep him awake. When he woke up enough to focus on his surroundings he noticed Sinbad. Sin followed the younger brother's example and waved at him.

"Hey, I'm Sinbad." This brother seemed more polite, but was just too tired to shake his hand so he simply waved back.

"Hello. I'm Koumei Ren and this is Chuu'un. Are you…I'm sorry, why are you here? I'm too tired to guess." His silent partner tried stepping on his foot to keep him awake but Koumei didn't notice. "Sorry, sorry." He gave a loud yawn and stretched his arms above his head. "It's just so late…oh gosh I'm exhausted…when's breakfast? Er, dinner?"

"In a bit," Kouha answered. "Sinbad is one of our sister's girlfriends." Koumei had about the same reaction as Kouha had: uncaring.

"I see. Which one?" Sinbad had not told anyone yet because he wasn't sure why Hakuei didn't want him to tell anyone, but now he had to be a little curious what these two thought of his girlfriend. Before he could say another door opened and another man came in. This one looked significantly older with shorter red hair and a beard. Behind him were four men, one with green dreadlocks, another with a strange pinkish nose with a moustache, one with large lion-like hair and another with scaly skin that reminded Sinbad of Drakon. The one ahead, that Sinbad guessed was the one from the Ren family, caught his eyes immediately, unlike his brothers.

"…and who is this?" Sinbad went red alert on this guy. The way he spoke just gave Sinbad a sense of mistrust.

"Who wants to know?" the man raised an eyebrow at his rudeness, but let it go.

"My name is Kouen Ren. This is Shou En, Kin Gaku, Kokukon Shuu and Seishuu Ri." The three men grinned at Sinbad but he felt no warmth come from the encounter. This time Kouen was the first to reach out his hand, and Sinbad took it firmly. This man wasn't as friendly or carefree as the others were.

"Are you here to meet with my father?" Sinbad shook his head. He was actually surprised he hadn't met their father. It was possible he wasn't there that day.

"No, I'm here for my girlfriend. She-'' this time Sinbad didn't get to finish his sentence as more siblings came running through.

"Ah, Sinbad!" Kougyoku and Hakuryuu hurried over to the little group. Along with them came Dolge and another servant with black hair and a strange face tattoo. He followed Kougyoku with a worried expression so he guessed he worked for her. Kougyoku smiled at him, now with more confidence than before. "Dorji and Hakuryuu here say that you're going to be staying for dinner. Is that true? Will you stay?" the girl almost was jumping in excitement. Sinbad almost felt bad for leading her on.

"Why is everyone coming here now?" Koumei was the first one to ask. "The house is huge and everyone's coming here? What is it, dinner time?"

"Yes, actually," Kouen told his younger brother. "In a few minutes. We were all called down. Our sister's should be here," he was also cut off as some of the doors opened and various girls all walked through, stopping when they saw that there was a scene. There was 6 of them in total. Along with them came a few servants, some children and another man who did not look related to any of them but held the eldest sister's hand. Her husband he guessed, remembering when Dorji said one sister was coming back with her family. One thing that Sinbad noticed as he looked over the Ren family specifically: they all had red hair. Well, the girls all had pink hair, but the boys had red. But Hakuryuu had very dark, almost bluish hair. He didn't look much like any of his siblings. Along with that, Hakuei didn't either. Why did those two look so different from the rest?

As all the girls filed in the first one they noticed was Sinbad. But unlike their brother, they didn't seem too bothered by his presence. "Who's the cutie?" "You idiot, that's the one we ran into earlier." "His hair looks really nice." "I so call dibs." "No way, I called first!" "Did not!" Only five seconds and Sinbad was already starting a war. Jafar would be ashamed.

Kouen, who didn't seem to notice his sister's inappropriate behaviour, turned back to Sinbad. "Which one Sinbad? You said you were here looking for your girlfriend, correct?" Sinbad glared at the older man, anger coursing through him for no reason at all. He had a hunch the hate was mutual, even if unexplained. Turning back to the girls, he looked over them to try and find the raven coloured hair that belonged to Hakuei. He couldn't find it. Not even one person who had her hair.

"She's not here," Hakuryuu answered for him. But when Sinbad turned to him he noticed that the boy was starting to look nervous, fidgeting with his hands and sweating. "S-Sinbad, come on, let's go look for her."

"She has to be," Kouha interrupted. "All of our sisters are here." Hakuryuu glared at the boy until he became silent, but looked confused as to why he should be quiet. Kouen noticed Hakuryuu's glare and was equally confused, but hid it better than Kouha.

"What is her name?" he asked Sinbad quizzically. "That is, assuming you know it." Sinbad wanted to kill him. Around them, the rest of his siblings began to question Sinbad as well. "Are you really here for your girlfriend?" "Or did you come to see our dad?" "Are you a thief?" "If you're looking for a girlfriend I can fill in." Sinbad felt shivers with that last one.

Hakuryuu tried to come to his rescue once again. "Brothers and sisters, let's leave it alone! M-maybe he thought his girlfriend was one of our siblings but was mistaken." Sinbad knew for a fact that he was not mistaken. Hakuei herself had told him that she belonged to this family…though she never said they were this…unique.

The rest of the family didn't listen to Hakuryuu's attempts. "Is she Kourin? Is she cheating on her husband?" "HEY!" (That was Kourin) "How about Kougyoku? You two were talking earlier." "No way, she's totally dating that Judal guy." "n-no I'm not!" "Do you work for dad? Is this some kind of test?" "He's a liar, he probably just came to steal some of dad's information." "Where did you come from?" they all continued yelling questions and debating with each other until it became so loud Sinbad couldn't make out one voice from another. But he was just as confused as all of them. Where was Hakuei? He came all this way to meet her family and he couldn't even find HER.

Luckily she had no problem finding him. "What on earth is going-…Sinbad?" Everyone stopped talking and turned to look up the staircase. Hakuei stood there, staring at the scene with her mouth hanging open. More specifically, staring at Sinbad with her mouth hanging open. "S…Sinbad…why are you…how did you get…" grinning, he smiled and waved at her.

"Hey babe. I brought Hakuryuu home." As soon as he said 'babe' everyone turned to stare at him in shock. This time all of their mouths were hanging open, even Koumei was staring at him in open-mouthed shock. Kouen was the first one who was able to say something.

"Hakuei…is this your boyfriend?" Everyone waited in dead silence for her answer. It took her a moment to regain her voice, than it took her another to decide what to say. In the end she went with the simplest answer.

"Well…Yes." No one could say anything. They were all looking from Sinbad to Hakuei to Sinbad and back again. None of them could decide what they should say. They all looked just as dumbstruck as Sinbad had been.

Kouha was the first to speak up. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

**hey, the story can be hard to understand. if anyone has questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'll try to answer them in the next chapter. thanks for reading, I don't own anything. **


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter and the next chapter are going to be kind of cheesy, just a warning. I'm not good at writing endings...I own nothing. oh and Aladdin is going to be in the next chapter. oh come on, you all knew it was coming. he's the star of the show! **

Chapter 3

After the longest dinner Sinbad had ever been through he sat at the giant dinner table, surrounded by the Ren family and their friends. He sat at the head, with Kouen at the other glaring at him the whole meal. Hakuei sat next to Sinbad and her friend Seisyun on her left. Hakuryuu sat at Sinbad's right, with Kougyoku and her helper Koubun at Hakuryuu's left. The rest of the siblings all sat at different spots at the table with their servants all sitting around them. At the other side of the table, Kouen sat with Kouha and Kouen on either side, their servants or friends around them. So far, Sinbad wasn't getting anywhere.

As soon as she news had come out that Sinbad was Hakuei's boyfriend, Kouha had tried to kill him. All three of his servants as well as Chuu'un had to stop him from breaking anything. Koumei, who had not cared just a few seconds ago, ran over to Hakuei first and began pounding her with questions. The girls all began whispering to each other in shock, jealousy and disbelief. Kouen was the first to suggest that they all go to dinner and they would discuss the situation there. It didn't work out so well. They all ate their food in silence, no one sure what to say. When they were done their meals they still sat there, waiting for dessert in silence. A bunch of servants had begun to peek in, confused at the silence. Sinbad and Kouen were observing each other's movements cautiously, trying to guess the person's next move. No one seemed to have anything to say, so they continued to sit there. In silence. The girls started getting bored.

Seisyun was the first one to say anything. "So you're…dating Miss Hakuei?" everyone turned on him and he shrunk down in his chair sheepishly. Probably not the best idea, considering how short he was already.

"Yeah, that's me." Everyone turned back to Sinbad as soon as he spoke, but he just smiled back confidently at them. Out of embarrassment most of the girls looked away, but her brothers continued to glare. For brothers who had seemed so uncaring only an hour ago they certainly wanted to kill him now.

Seisyun seemed to be the only one who didn't think this was a bad thing. "I-I'm Hakuei's friend Seisyun Ri. My parents work here and we live on the grounds. You might have seen me around the school before? I go to a different school but,"

"Oh yeah, I remember you. You came for her volleyball games." The two of them shook hands. This boy was much friendlier to him than the others were. "What school do you go to?"

"The one on the edge of the town. I would go to your school, but mine has a better martial arts program so I decided to go there instead." He agreed with that. Their school was more suited for broad subjects. If you wanted to get specific into a rarer subject you had to go to a different school. "N-not that your school isn't good. It's really good, I'm just trying to go into,"

"What are you going into Sinbad?" For the first time that meal Koumei decided to speak up. They were all silent as they waited for Sinbad's response. Hakuei seemed much more nervous with Koumei speaking than her friend. She began twisting the cup in front of her, leaving fingerprints no the glass. Sinbad noticed, but he didn't say anything. He still didn't have the whole story yet.

"National security," he spoke with a confident voice that Koumei wasn't expecting, because he went silent right away. Kouen was the only one who was able to keep his cool.

"What grade are you in?" he asked with a dark voice, almost challenging him.

"12. Same as Hakuei."

"How old are you?"

"18."

"You have a job?"

"Yup. Work at the docks."

"What university are you going to?"

"Same one as Hakuei." A few people shot up, clearly shocked at that. At the answer Hakuei blushed and looked down at the table, unable to look at her family. Neither Sinbad nor Kouen hesitated, spoke quickly with sharp tones. Hakuei glanced at both of them worriedly, unable to say anything.

Sinbad was starting to notice something about this family. Kouen spoke to him like it was an interview, which he guessed it was but more like a business interview than a boyfriend interview. (Not that he ever had one before) Kouha looked like he was having a hard time not taking all the cutlery on the table and stabbing him in the chest. Koumei looked like it didn't bother him as much, but he didn't know what to say. Kougyoku was looking at Hakuei almost like she was worried and happy for her, but mostly she couldn't decide what to think. It looked to him like they hadn't done this before either. Even though they had a lot of sister's, one who was married, they looked just as new to this as Sinbad was.

"So how long have you two been together?" Koumei asked, finally able to come up with a good question. He still looked tired, but he woke up very quickly after what they found out.

"Bout a year. She never tell you?" judging from everyone's shocked expressions she hadn't. Slowly he felt his anger beginning to build in his chest. Most of that was directed at this family for being so suspicious of him, but even though he didn't want to admit it, some of it was at Hakuei. She hadn't told her family anything. Judging from their reactions to it, they would have wanted to know. Sinbad had told all his family, even the ones who didn't go to his school. Even Aladdin, who had only come to the orphanage recently had met Hakuei. Once he even called her older sister. And she couldn't even mention to her older siblings, 'Oh yeah, I've been dating this guy for about a year and we are going to the same university together.' Couldn't even bring it up once?

"This is enough." Nope, Sinbad didn't say that. Everyone turned to Kouha as he knocked over his chair and stood up at the table, his hand dangerously close to the kitchen knife. "Let's make this guy leave! He doesn't belong here with Hakuei!"

Hakuei felt her heart begin to race a million miles an hour. "Kouha, please wait,"

"NO! He can't be here, he's not supposed to be here!" spinning around he turned on the rest of his family to get their support. "We all know it's not right for him to be here!" unfortunately for Kouha, he didn't get any support for his family.

"Just wait Kouha. There's nothing wrong with him being here, and you know it." Sinbad could not believe that Kouen was the one saying that. Kouha turned on his brother in complete shock.

"How can you say that? It's wrong, he shouldn't be here, he should leave Hakuei and never look back!" at the suggestion Hakuei turned a little pale. Even though she didn't look at Sinbad he could guess she wasn't too happy about the idea. To reassure her he reached across the table and grabbed her hand, like he had done before. She glanced back at him and gave him a small smile, but couldn't keep it for long. Hakuei knew what Kouha was talking about. Sinbad didn't. Kouha saw him holding her hand and his anger grew. "You let go of her!"

"Not a chance," Sinbad challenged the young boy. Hakuei tried to pull away at the command but Sinbad held on tight. Kouha looked like he was ready to explode.

"Leave my sister be! She's been through enough without some random pony-tail coming in to use her a bit than throw her away like trash!" at that Sinbad expected Hakuei to tell her brother off, but this time her face dropped once again. Sinbad stared at her in shock. Did she not trust him? Was that why she didn't introduce him to her family? Because she thought it wasn't going to last? How could she not trust him like that?

There was definitely something that Sinbad was missing, something important. Kouen seemed to catch that Sinbad was missing the important detail. Even though he hated this man for reason's unknown to him, he decided if he truly had been dating his sister that he deserved to know that much.

"Hakuei. Please take Kouha and calm him down. Sinbad, you come with me and Koumei." Everyone turned and stared at Kouen in shock. He didn't even blink as he got out of his chair, Koumei hurrying to follow suit. Sinbad didn't want to take orders from him, but Hakuei nodded to say it was a good idea. The two of them stood up and Hakuei let go to hurry over to her younger brother. Kouha still looked like he wanted to punch something, but allowed his sister to bring him away. "Sinbad." He turned back to the two brothers who stood at the entrance to another hallway. "Follow us."

The two brother's lead Sinbad outside. It looked like the family garden, with beautiful flowers and trees everywhere. Kouen and Koumei walked ahead of Sinbad, whispering to each other. They kept glancing back at him then whispering to each other once again. It started to bug Sinbad. They had been walking for what felt like forever to him, but they hadn't told him a thing.

"Look you two, are one of you going to say something or are you leading me off into the forest to bury my body where no one will find it?" Both of them stopped and turned back to Sinbad. Neither of them seemed to be in a big rush to explain.

"Just a little further. Then we'll explain." Sinbad began to wonder if they really WERE going to kill him.

As they walked they came along an area filled with white peonies. His mind immediately flashed to Hakuei. She loved peonies. Before he met Hakuei, he always gave the women that he was interested in red roses. But Hakuei hadn't accepted a red one.

Flashback-

"Everyone, this is Hakuei Ren. She's starting at our school today, so I expect everyone to be nice to her." For a 17 year old entering in the middle of the first semester, she didn't seem nervous at all about being there. The class all took in her regular jeans and t-shirt, a red backpack and raven coloured hair hung straight and normal. At first glance she appeared very ordinary.

The first thing that caught Sinbad's attention was her eyes. They were bright blue, and shone brighter than any he had ever seen. In them he could see both innocence and intelligence that surpassed any others he had seen.

Next was her smile. She had a great smile, bright and beautiful. No matter who she would smile at them, and it was hard not to notice. Her smile was so kind and merciful that Sinbad was truly awed by it. A simple smile was hypnotic to him.

Then it was her voice. She spoke with a confidence and grace that was unique in others. She did not back down, but she spoke kindly to people even when they did not deserve it. This new girl had an air around her that drew people towards her.

Of course she wasn't perfect. There were a few things about her that really got on Sinbad's nerves. How uptight she could be about getting work done, how mistrusting she could be, as well as how quickly she could get angry, at him most of the time he found. But he grew to accept those things. Everyone had their faults. But her good sides seemed to overshadow her faults, to him at least. The little things he found got to him a lot. He loved the way she would turn beet red whenever he got to close. How she would make sure all of her friends were doing well in their classes and getting their work done. The way she would almost glow when she was very happy. Especially how smart she was. Out of all the girls he had dated before, Hakuei was the best conversationalist. He could talk to her about anything and she always seemed to know what to say. She was so brilliant and kind, and he didn't want to let her go.

It didn't take long for Sinbad to decide he was interested. He had a tradition of charming women and playing with their emotions before actually taking them on a date, just to see how long they could resist. Hakuei resisted longer than he had expected, or wanted. "You're in my English class? I'm sorry, I was very nervous on my first day and didn't notice much." "Sinbad, can you stop meeting me at my locker? I don't want to be rude, but if I keep talking to you for too long, my teacher will get mad for me always being late." "That's the same thing you said to the girl from computer science. Your words are hollow Sinbad." "I don't want to go to a party Sinbad. It's too far away from my house and I promised I would go to my younger brother's soccer tournament." "You say all these charming words Sinbad, but sometimes I truly wonder if you have a heart." That last one had stung a little. After almost a month he had gotten nowhere with this girl. Part of him had wondered if she was truly worth all this effort. None of the other girls had been.

When he had offered her a red rose, she had given it back to him. "Thank you for the gift, but a really don't like red roses. They are to tricky and dark, not to mention how ordinary they are. Everyone wants red roses, when they are just thoughtless gifts that everyone gets because they don't want to take the time to actually think about what the person would want." Honestly, Sinbad had never thought about it that way. All the girls who he had given red roses to were just happy that he was giving them a flower, much less care about what kind of flower. Even if they had, he doubted he would have spent any time trying to get them anything. He never cared too much about what they liked and disliked. Then Hakuei came along

When he had asked her to go on a date with him, he had been truly surprised she had said yes. After calling him heartless and having hollow words, he had been starting to worry she hated him. But for some reason she had said yes. "You're right. I don't trust you very much Sinbad. But everyone deserves a chance, and one date won't kill me." So enthusiastic.

Before he went on the date Sinbad spent an hour in the flower store. He knew this girl was going to be hard to impress, and for some reason he really wanted to. But to do that he would have to start by proving that he had a heart and he did care what she thought. Pisti had suggested he got daisies. Yamu told him to get orchids. Morgianna (another person at the orphanage) thought he should get her some tulips. Jafar was convinced that she was testing him and told him not to get her any flowers. Masrur said…nothing. Alibaba suggested he get her some chocolate instead, with the great words of wisdom, 'everyone loves chocolate.' Aladdin asked him what she was like, but Sinbad didn't know what he was supposed to say. Unfortunately that had left him with too many flowers and not enough time to decide. Why oh why did there have to be so many flowers in the world?

When he had been about to give up his eyes had landed on the peonies. That's when he realized why Aladdin had been asking him what she was like. Peonies were beautiful, but didn't catch attention from others. They shared it equally, just like how Hakuei liked to. He couldn't believe it had taken him an hour to find it.

It was worth it though. The two of them had met at the park. He remembered she had been dressed in a simple summer dress her hair done in a braid. She always wore simple cloths he noticed. It was as if she was trying to hide the fact that she was different. When she saw him she smiled, but not a flirty smile like he was expecting. The smile she wore issued a challenge, like this was a battle instead of a date. "Hello Sinbad," she had greeted him. "I was starting to think you were never going to come." Sinbad had smiled his tricky smile. He could play the game just as well as she could.

"Yet you still stayed around." She had blushed a bit, but kept on the calm face. That seemed like an appropriate moment, so he slipped the white rose into her hand. "I hope this makes it worth the wait." As soon as he had said it, he had wished he could take it back. He practically set himself up for criticism with that one. To his surprise though her eyes lit up at the sight of the small bundle of white peonies in her hand.

"Peonies. That's my favourite kind of flower…how'd you know?" he hadn't. Luckily she didn't wait for his answer, as she smelled the roses gently and smiled up at him. "Alright Sinbad. Maybe I'm impressed. Let's just see if you can keep up with this."

End flashback

"We are here Sinbad." He launched out of his flashback to look up at her two brothers. They had lead him to a little area that was surrounded by white roses. Three trees surrounded them making a triangle shape, and white petals flew past them in the breeze. In the middle of the area Sinbad noticed three very large rocks. As he focused on them he saw that they were headstones, two on either side of one larger one. They all had freshly cut flowers surrounding them, as well as an unlit candle and a picture of the deceased. The one in the middle looked like an older man, but the ones on the other sides looked much younger. One looked 22 and the other looked only 19, a year older than Sinbad. On the headstones the names that were written were: Hakuyuu Ren, Hakutoku Ren and Hakuren Ren.

"Hakuei and her brother only came to us a few years ago," Kouen explained. "After their brothers and father passed away."

Sinbad stared at him in surprise. Hakuei and Hakuryuu had never mentioned anything about losing any family members. Of course, he should have guessed something must have happened. Hakuei had come in the middle of grade 11, yet the Ren family had been living in their house for as long as Sinbad could remember. Koumei raised an eyebrow at him. "She never told you?" Slowly, Sinbad shook his head. Koumei nodded, expecting that answer. "Yeah. She doesn't like to talk about it."

"From what I know, both Hakuei and her brother adored their elder siblings the most," Kouen continued as if he had never spoken. "Since their father was away often and their mother had left when they were young, the two brothers became parents to the two of them. They were very dear to them, Hakuei held them in very high regards. When they died, the two of them were devastated."

"How'd they die?" Sinbad asked cautiously.

"Car crash." Kouen waited to see if Sinbad had any more questions before continuing. When he came up with nothing, he went on. "As soon as the three of them were killed they were brought to live here with our family. The two of them were polite to everyone, but it was easy to see something had broken in both of them. For a while they didn't speak to anyone, hiding in their rooms for long periods of times. It took forever for us to get them to be able to smile and be happy again, and even longer to get them out of the house. Hakuei, who knew her brothers longer than Hakuryuu, was harder than Hakuryuu. When she left her hometown she cut off all ties she had with anyone there. Even her mother who she used to send emails to she refused to contact. Our sister couldn't cope with the death of them as easily as someone should. Not only that, but she also took the responsibility of taking care of her younger brother, even though she was suffering just as much as him." Kouen remembered back to the day the two siblings were brought to his house. _Kouen, this is Hakuei and Hakuryuu, your cousins from the north. Your father is adopting them into your family. _The two of them had nice faces, and he remembered thinking that they were wearing far too painfully sad looks for people who seemed like they were used to smiling. The two of them had looked dead inside, always speaking in monotone and without emotion. They had improved greatly over the time they had been recovering, but part of him wondered if Hakuei was back to normal, or if she still hadn't healed enough.

After a moment to recollect his thoughts he turned back to Sinbad. "Don't misunderstand us. Our confusion at you being here isn't because we don't approve of Hakuei having a boyfriend. It's that we didn't think she could. She never brought anyone home, in all of the years that she has been here. No friends, no teammates, no one working with her on a project, nothing." Koumei added onto the story, starting to feel somewhat left out.

"We had assumed that she wasn't ready to invite anyone into her house. After she lost her brothers she didn't want to get to close to anyone. The only ones she was willing to get close to was family, and that was because she didn't want to lose anyone. We knew that she was making friends at school, but she never told anyone about them, because she was truly afraid of losing them. To free herself from that kind of loss, she just made sure not to have any kind of ties. To anyone."

"Other than you apparently," Kouen contemplated. "And now it seems you had quite a big part in her healing." Sinbad made a face at him.

"Me? How could you possibly know that? You didn't even know the two of us were dating until today." Kouen shook his head, not to say he was wrong but to say he wasn't understanding.

"Yes, but you also said you were dating her for…a year, correct?" Sinbad nodded. "That was around when Hakuei seemed to be getting better. She was able to smile, she became good friends with Kouha and other people in our house. It was as if she was starting to wake up from a long nap, finally seeing the world for what it was. At the time we didn't know what had caused it. We never really thought about it, since we were just grateful she was getting better. But you must have done something to her. I don't know what you did, since as you said, we only just found out about this. But whatever you did helped her, right from the start. You helped her back on her feet."

Sinbad had a hard time believing that. When they had first met, she almost seemed annoyed by his presence. On their first few dates she teased him about when he was going to break it off, or what girl he was seeing the night before. He had just thought it was because she knew how much of a player he was. Now he wondered if it was because she had been afraid of getting involved with him. When he had asked her to be his girlfriend, he remembered the look of fear that had passed through her eyes. For the next few days she didn't give him an answer, and he remembered going insane for the first time in a long time. His friends certainly remembered since they were the ones who had to stop him from breaking all of the furniture and glass they had in the house. When she had finally told him she wanted to, he remembered her hands had been shaking. Like before, he guessed incorrectly in thinking she didn't want to get involved with a player that would hurt her. No, instead she was worried about letting someone in.

"...Sinbad, we don't know what's going to happen to the two of you," Koumei explained. "But just understand this. She's very close to breaking. Yes, she's further away than she was a year ago, but it would only take a small push for her to break again. Hakuei is a…one of our dearest siblings, even if we are not really siblings. Whatever you do, if you break up with her," Sinbad tried to protest but Koumei continued. "Or stay together, we don't care. All we ask is that you don't hurt her too much. That's all we ask."

Kouha sat and pouted on his bed as Hakuei closed the door of his bedroom. The young boy crossed his arms and glared up as his older sister. She didn't glare back. Instead she looked at her younger brother with a love and sympathy that very little people looked at him with. He remembered when he had first met-no, when he had first truly thought of her as one was supposed to think of a sister. It was a long time ago, but he remembered it as if it was only yesterday.

Flashback

"KOUHA YOU LITTLE FREAK!" another one of his elder sister's yelled at him. "Watch where you are going with your little entourage of monsters will you?" as Kouha had rode his skateboard down the hallway he stopped immediately at that one. Turning he glared angrily at the sister he didn't even know the name of. Kathrin? Katrina? He didn't care. All of them but Kougyoku were the same. They always insulted his friends, whether it was Jinjin, Meihou, Junjun, Reirei, whoever he brought they were always the same in his sister's eyes. Freaks. Monsters. People not worthy to walk in their house.

Kougyoku was the only one who respected them. She didn't talk to them much, since his sister was so shy, but she treated them like friends. Since she knew where he and his friends were coming from, she could understand them. She knew what it was like to feel like an outcast, like you weren't wanted. That was why she had been the only sister he cared about: she didn't treat other differently because of how they were born or what others thought of them.

He had yelled back at her, "Don't call my friends monsters! They are prettier than you could ever be!" his servants smiled at him in gratitude. He didn't know why they took his sister's attitudes. They deserved to be treated far better, all of them. They had pure hearts and were more friends to him than servants.

His sister had only laughed. "Who, those little witches? Are you kidding me? Those three should go back to the dump where they belong, along with that freaky bodyguard who follows you around sometimes. What worthless creatures." At her words the three girls hung their heads in embarrassment. They shouldn't have been embarrassed. What she was saying was a lie, anyone could see that! But how dare she hurt his friends? No one hurts Kouha Ren's friends.

After they had called his friends monsters, he had snuck into that sister's bedroom and completely desecrated the room, tearing her cloths to shreds and spilling her makeup everywhere. He didn't feel guilty. They could buy new stuff anyway. She might even have fun. When his sister had found him she had called their dad. Kouha had sat on the ground in the hallway as his sister yelled at his dad and some of the servants in front of him. She had no right to yell at them. They treated her far kinder than she deserved.

As they were arguing though, Kouha noticed someone had come at sat next to him. When he looked up he saw a girl, years older than him, with dark hair and bright blue eyes. She had turned and smiled down at him. "Hello. You're Kouha, right?" he had snuffed darkly at her and turned away.

"Who wants to know?" Kouha was always rude to people who he just met. In his experience most of the normal people were the same: self-righteous and treated him and his friends like filth. So he did what it took to get rid of them. And if being mean didn't work he would try and scare them off. The girl had simply chuckled, unbothered by his tone.

"I'm Hakuei. I think we are cousins. Or would I say siblings?" Kouha had huffed and turned away from her. He knew of her. She and her quiet brother had arrived almost two months ago. Kouha had glimpsed them a few times. At the dinner table, walking through the hallways. Hakuryuu seemed cool. The scar over his eye was pretty nice. He was nice to his friends to, which he appreciated, but he cried a lot. Hakuei seemed like a mute, hiding herself in her room and eating her food in silence. That was the first time she had actually spoke to him since they had gotten there. She glanced around the people in front of them to look in the room. "Did you do that?"

"Yup!" Kouha huffed bravely, his chest puffing a bit. Hakuei had smiled a little, which he had been confused at. Most people would be horrified, but she laughed. Maybe she was as crazy as him.

"Well I must say you worked really hard at it. You even tore her socks apart." With a tone of knowledge she advised him, "The next time you do it though, you should try to get some glue and put it on the door so when she walks in the door will close and she can't get out." Kouha had laughed at that but tried to hide it. He wouldn't admit that was a good idea.

"Aren't you supposed to tell me what everyone tells kids my age? 'don't break things,' 'treat your sister's better,' all that stupid stuff?" Hakuei listened to his words carefully, not like she was listening to a child who didn't know what he was talking about. She actually listened to him.

"I guess I could," she finally responded. "But I don't think that would do you any good. You wouldn't listen no matter what I say, would you?" He shook his head and she nodded back. "Besides," she started as she turned back to the door. "She deserves worse for what she said to your friends."

Kouha spun to stare at her. "You heard? Are you a ghost? Where you stalking us?" She had laughed a little and shook her head.

"Yes to the first question, no to the second two. I was just passing by when I heard her yell at them. Besides, I know what it's like to want to protect the ones you care about."

"What would you know about it?" Kouha had asked cautiously, but with less venom than before. She had given him a weak smile in return.

"You know my little brother, Hakuryuu? Have you seen the scar over his eye?" he nodded. "He got it when he was little, right before our mom had left. A lot of the kids at school would make fun of him because he looked really creepy to them. Do you want to know what I did to them?" Kouha had nodded with more enthusiasm than he meant to. "I beat them up. Two of them got black eyes and one sprained his ankle." Kouha had laughed at that, so hard that his other sister looked at him in frustration. Hakuei laughed along with him though, relishing at the memory.

"HA! Those boys never bothered him again huh?" Hakuei nodded, still laughing.

"Nope. One of them even transferred schools." That made Kouha laugh even harder. When they calmed down Hakuei got to the point. "There's no shame in wanting to protect your friends. In fact it's admirable. They are lucky to have such a loyal friend at such a young age." That made Kouha's cheeks flush with pride, but he knew the end was coming. The part where she would say, 'but you should try doing something else, or once again, don't break things. He knew he should try something different, but that last insult had really gotten on his nerves and he had just snapped. But instead of that she had put her hand on his shoulder. "Just keep that loyalty. Not everyone is as loyal as you, and you should keep it." with that she had gotten up and walked away. Kouha had stared after her, watching her walk away in surprise.

After that, he was happy to have her as a sister. She was kind to his friends, no matter what they looked like or their background. She even made friends with a few of them. But mostly she treated Kouha as a brother, which was something he didn't get often from his siblings. Kougyoku was always there for him, but she never really knew how to actually take care of him. Hakuei treated him like a brother, making sure he ate the foods he hated, got his homework done, stood up for him, comforted him when he was scared, things his own mother had never done. Even though they weren't real siblings Kouha felt closer to her than most of his other sister's.

Even more, he was extremely proud when he had taken her advice and glued one of his sister's in her room.

End flashback

Which was why he felt guilty that he had disturbed her. He didn't want to make Hakuei unhappy. He just wanted the purple haired guy to leave. He didn't like him. He doubted he ever would. How could his sister not see it? That man was just going to hurt her, like everyone else would.

"…Kouha, why'd you yell at him?" Kouha crossed his arms and sat up straighter.

"I don't take back what I said. He should leave, he has no place here." Hakuei walked over. She didn't get mad, unless someone had done something very wrong. At least he had that. The bed moved as she sat next to him, but Kouha didn't budge.

"He is my boyfriend Kouha." At that Kouha felt a twitch in his eye. So it was true. That guy hadn't been lying. Part of him had hoped that when she hadn't spoken up it was because he wasn't telling the truth. Turns out he was.

"You should dump him than," Kouha stubbornly suggested. "Make him get out of our house. Cut off all contact with him, go to a different school if you have to, I don't care." Hakuei didn't say if it was a bad plan or not, just watched her brother with those far too intelligent eyes of hers. It wasn't fair how understanding she could be sometimes.

"Why don't you like him Kouha?" Kouha rolled his eyes like it should have been obvious.

"Why? Because he's normal. Normal people are never grateful or kind to anyone. So self-righteous and selfish, assuming they can have anything they want and treat the rest of us like crap." Hakuei gave a small smile that confused him a bit. "What?"

"Well Kouha, I'm normal aren't I? And Kougyoku, Kouen and Koumei are all normal. Does that mean we are all self-righteous?" Kouha gasped as if she had just spoke blasphemy.

"NO! That's why you aren't normal, because you are all nice to us!" Hakuei spoke up before he could continue.

"Then what makes you so sure Sinbad is just like everyone else? Not everyone in the world is a terrible person Kouha." At that Kouha's eyes darkened. Of course he knew that. But this was different, it really was. When he spoke he found his voice began to grow steadily louder and louder, and angrier and angrier.

"Not him. He's just like the rest. He's cocky, believes he can do whatever he wants, and apparently he thinks he can have you! Well no, he can't have my sister, he doesn't deserve it! He's just going to use you and then throw you away, when you deserve so much more than that! You are better now, and he thinks he can just come in and destroy all that again? Who does that guy think he is? I don't care if he's as 'attractive,' or 'good looking' as my sister's think he is, that doesn't matter one bit! He's not allowed to take my sister when I just got her. You don't belong to him, you belong to this family now! You should stay here, not go off with the likes of him! HE'S NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE AWAY ONE OF THE ONLY TRUE SISTER'S I HAVE, I DON'T CARE WHO HE IS!" at the end he smashed his hands against the bedframe, rattling the bed a bit. Hakuei remained quiet the whole time, waiting for him to finish patiently. After he was done she still waited for him, to see if he had anything left to say. When she was sure he was done she took a breath and began her explanation.

"Kouha…are you worried that I will stop caring about you and my family?" Kouha twitched a bit. He didn't mean to make it so obvious. Smiling gently, she reached out one arm and put it around his shoulder. Giving in, he moved over to he could put his head on her shoulder. It helped him relax for a bit. The way that she held him reminded him of how a mother would hold a child. He missed his mom. "Kouha, I promise you won't ever need to worry about that. Yes, I care about Sinbad. But I still care about all of you. Nothing will change that, no matter how many years pass, or who I decide to date, whether it is Sinbad or someone else. You are still my family, all of you, even the ones who aren't related by blood. You all took me and my brother in, taking care of us and treating us well even though we had done nothing to deserve it. And beyond that, you are still my little brother. I'm not going to leave my youngest brother when he needs me. If you ever need me, I promise no matter where I am, or who I'm with, I will always come to help you. That's what true family does."

"Hakuryuu?" Hakuryuu turned to face Kougyoku standing in the door frame nervously. After the dinner everyone had separated to different places. All the sister's had gone together to start gossiping about this new information. Kougyoku was the only one who hadn't said anything about it, which Hakuryuu was slightly surprised about. She was the only one who had really talked to him, and it looked like she had liked him. Nervously she stared at the ground and mumbled to him. "Can…can I speak with you?"

Hakuryuu smiled her easily. She was very shy, but over the months he got to know that she truly had a good heart, unlike her other sisters. When he first met her he wasn't sure, since she copied her sister's a lot. But over time he got to know what she was just very shy, maybe somewhat naïve. When he spoke to her he saw that she really did care about all of her family, even the sisters who treated her badly. Other than Hakuei, he would have said she was his favourite. "Ah, Yes Kougyoku. What can I help you with?"

Even though he had been living in her house for so long, Kougyoku still had a hard time speaking to him. Whenever she did, all she could think about was that first time, the first time she had tried to speak to him.

Flashback

It was a week or so after they had arrived. She would have come to see him earlier, but her brother's insisted that they should give them some time to get used to the house. Part of her was excited to meet them, see if she could make new friends. The other part though was worried they were going to be like her sister's, not caring and rude. Her curiosity overwhelmed her though, and she had found herself walking on her way to his room. When she got their before she could knock on the door she heard the sound of people talking in the room. Putting her ear against the wall she was able to hear better, but it was harder than she expected.

"Hakuryuu, we can't leave and you know it." that sounded like the girl, Hakuei. What were they talking about? "Were would we go? There is no place for us Hakuryuu, and we can't just live on the streets."

"We can't stay here." A boy's voice, Hakuryuu she guessed. He sounded cold and firm, unable to change his mind. There was a loud sigh, likely from his sister.

"Why not? Aren't the people being nice to us? They took us into their home brother, at the very least they deserve our respect," Hakuryuu had interrupted her with a sharp undertone in his voice.

"Don't pretend you don't feel the same way I do." there was a silence that left a dark feeling in the room. "Don't pretend you don't see the way they look at you. Like you're a charity case, like your just another person put here because you had nowhere to go. I don't want to be here, these people are strangers, not our family." Hakuei had tried to say something but Hakuryuu continued to speak. "I know they are trying. I know this is not their fault, and they are just trying to help us. But the truth is it doesn't feel that way. When I look at them…

They are just a constant reminder that our brothers are not coming back."

End flashback

His words had sent shivers down Kougyoku's spine, and they still did now. Was that really all he thought of them? That they were just another source of pain for him? She had been so excited that she might get another family member, maybe one who would stay around and not leave like Koumei and Kouen always did. But all she did was hurt them. Hakuryuu must have despised all of them, and she couldn't do anything about it. She wanted to try. She wanted to try so bad to make him feel like they were family, like they could help ease the pain, but he never let anyone in. Hakuei had made an effort, and she was nice. She had a gentle smile and helped her with her hair. More than anything she just wanted to help Hakuryuu. He deserved to get better didn't he? Now he seemed better. He didn't plot ways to run away anymore. He spoke to the family easily, even treated the meaner sister's with respect. But Kougyoku just wanted him to call her family. Even if it was just cousin, or step sibling, it would be enough. It would mean that maybe she meant something to him, that they could be friends. She wasn't sure if that would ever happen.

"I…I just wanted to know if it was true. That Hakuei's dating Sinbad? And has been for a year?" At her words Hakuryuu's face fell a bit. "t-that is if you don't mind telling me! If you don't, that's fine, I can ask Hakuei when I see her next,"

"No, it's alright. Yes, it's all true." Hakuryuu answer slowly. He didn't want to say anything that would get her upset, especially since he knew she got attached to people quickly. If she had developed a crush on Sinbad, she might not take it well and he didn't want to hurt her.

"oh." That was all she said. For a moment he thought that was all she was going to say, but she spoke up again. "Are you okay with it?"

Hakuryuu was taken back. "Me?"

"Y-yes," Kougyoku answered nervously. "I-I mean, she is your only sister isn't she? Wouldn't you want to protect her and make sure she's okay? Not that Sinbad is going to hurt her, he seems really nice and sweet and caring," Kougyoku was grateful he interrupted her before she could continue on her rant, admitting to her admiration for him.

"No, I don't mind. Sinbad and I know each other from school. He's a good man, and he's made my sister happy for the whole time she's been with him. As long as she is safe and happy than I'm okay." Kougyoku nodded quickly, wanting the conversation to end so she could run away.

"t-that's good. That's all I wanted to know. W-well that's all I have to say, so I'll see you," but before she could leave Hakuryuu spoke to her once again.

"Why do you say she is my only sister?" Kougyoku turned back to him, feeling her cheeks blush, afraid of saying something to get him mad. He didn't look mad, he just kept on that innocently clueless face he had on all the time.

"I-I mean, she is isn't she? The only sister you have left, since you didn't have any others,"

"You're my sister, aren't you?" Kougyoku stopped. Her own heart felt like it had stopped in her chest. Had she heard him wrong? Had he said something else? Having to check, she looked up at him, eyes wide.

"w-what?"  
"You're my sister to," Hakuryuu repeated, confused. He hadn't expected her to be so shocked at that. It seemed like common knowledge. But Kougyoku looked so confused, like she hadn't realized it. "Why do you look so confused? Isn't that normal?"

"I…I thought we were just a reminder your brother's weren't here." Hakuryuu's eyes widened as he heard her say that. He hadn't realized anyone had heard what he said to his sister. The walls must have been thinner than he thought. Oh no, what else had he said? What did they know? Did they hear him talk about Morgianna from school? Oh gosh, what had he said? Before he could go through everything he had said for the last few months, he noticed Kougyoku's reaction. She wasn't mad, or even teasing him. She looked sad, eyes looking down and a frown set on her normally smiling face. Had this really bothered her? He had never meant to hurt her.

"I…yes, at first you were. But at the time Kougyoku, that was all I could think about. All I could think about was what had happened to my brothers. Everything was reminding me of them. I admit, you all were a greater reminder than most, but I learned to get past that. I got past it, and you were all there to help me. Kouen taught me how to play chess to distract me of what was happening. At school I made new friends, who were all very kind to me and treated me like I had been there the whole time. Kouha was often causing trouble, so I would forget about my own problems." As he spoke her eyes grew wider and wider. It almost confused him how she didn't understand this. Didn't they all know how much in debt he was to them? Kougyoku certainly didn't know. "You too, you've helped a lot. Your cheery attitude has helped remind me that not everything is as dark as it seems right now, and that I still have family around me to help."

"F…family." Kougyoku said the word slowly, almost like she was testing it. Considering how her older sister's treated her, he wondered if she was used to being called family. She should. Everyone deserved a family. Walking up to her, he put an encouraging hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him sharply. He smiled down at her, trying to be as caring as he could.

"That's right. You're my sister." She had almost choked him to death by hugging him so much.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hakuei was starting to get worried. Sinbad hadn't come back yet, but both of her older brothers were back. She asked them where he was but they both said they didn't know. Maybe he had left, just like Kouha had said. It might be for the best, even if it hurt her. Maybe he decided she wasn't worth all this trouble. If that was true she would accept it. She knew that it would hurt, probably more than she was willing to admit. But even if it did, it was up to him whether he wanted to stay or not. Still though, she had to find out one way or another. So when it was still light out she headed out to look around.

His car was still there. It stood out from the rest of the cars in the driveway, since he had a red older model. All her family had either large ones to fit everyone or Kouen's and Koumei's own cars that they bought themselves. Someday she was going to buy her own car, but she decided it would be better to wait for a while, since she still had to get her way through high school and University.

The garden was too big to look through the whole place before it got dark. So instead she went up to the highest little hill and tried to see around. As far as she could see there was nobody. Maybe a few workers, but their uniforms were very different from Sinbad's dark blue t-shirt and jeans. Not to mention all of them had different colored hair than Sinbad. Sighing she sat down on the hill, resigning herself to wait there. Just a bit, to see if he had been killed by her brothers or not. He coming there had definitely been a bad idea. Not only might he not like her family, they were people you had to warm up to. But more than that, she wasn't ready. She didn't think she would ever be ready to try and let someone in so close. Hadn't she risked quite a bit, just allowing herself to date him for so long? Wasn't that dangerous enough? How could she be so reckless at times? This, she wasn't ready for this. Yes, she should have told him why she didn't want to introduce him to her family. If she had he would have understood, but she didn't want to talk about it. She wasn't ready to. Would she ever be?

All those months ago, she didn't think she had been ready to date him either. It was such a strange concept really, not to mention completely out of the blew. She had accepted his offer to go on a date without thinking it through. If she had, she probably would have said no. He was somewhat pushy, not very honest, and flirted with all the girls at the school. Not to mention he was crazy. But it was the crazy things though that had gotten to her more than anything. On their first date he came an hour late just to buy her one flower. On the second date he had brought her to the roof of the school for lunch. On the eighth date he had asked her out by using the school speakers, for absolutely no reason at all. On her birthday he pretended to kidnap her so that she could get out of class. At Christmas he had given her a hairband with a mistletoe on it. When she was sick he refused to leave her side. He went all out, not caring who saw. He was not afraid to do whatever he wanted to, heck the consequences. How he was able to be so honest about it she had no clue how. Sometimes she felt bad for not doing anything as extravagant as him. But he didn't seem to care. For a while she wondered if he did this for every girl. If he really did care about her, or if this was normal for everyone. When he asked her to be his girlfriend, she supposed she had been wrong.

Flashback

"Hi Hakuei! Do you remember me?" Hakuei had looked up to see Aladdin walking in Sinbad's room curiously. The boy had a huge smile on his face that made it easy for Hakuei to remember him.

"Of course Aladdin. Ah, be careful where you step." Aladdin had to take a step back not to get his foot in a bowl full of glue. Hakuei and Sinbad had been working on a Science presentation board together, and had pages of notes sprawled everywhere in his room. Sinbad was asleep on the floor as Hakuei was putting the finishing touches on the project. His too long hair spread out around him, covering part of his face. Sometimes she was jealous how his hair just seemed to be so perfect all the time and all he had to do was tie it back.

The favourite part about his appearance was his eyes though. His eyes were yellowish orange to everyone else, but to her they looked golden. They seemed to glow at times, and there was so much written in them. The secrets that he kept, the ideas and goals he planned on pursuing, as well as his passion and determination for many things. He amazed her every day, just by being himself. It was embarrassing, but she always felt her heart beat an extra beat when he looked her in the eyes.

Aladdin hopped around Sinbad and the class notes, scrambling up on top of the bed and sitting cross legged across from her. He glanced down at Sinbad who turned on his side in his sleep. "Is he supposed to be sleeping while you work on the project?" Hakuei had smirked a little.

"No, but he did his fair share. I'm just putting together the last few things." As she said that she glued the last piece of information onto the board. Aladdin watched her curiously. When he spoke up she thought he was going to ask her something about the project. But he didn't. She had not been prepared for what he was going to ask her.

"So does this mean you said yes then? You being here?" Hakuei had tilted her head to the side a bit, telling him she didn't understand. "I mean, did you agree to be Sinbad's girlfriend?" she almost dropped the paper.

"H-h-he told you?" Aladdin nodded innocently, not noticing at all how big of a deal this was to her. Sinbad had asked her a few days ago to be his girlfriend. He came to her at lunch one day and pulled her away from the group saying, 'Hey, so we need to talk about our relationship.' Less than ten words was all he needed to scare the life out of her. He had said it so casually, like he was completely onboard with this. She had gotten mad at him when he laughed at her blushing too much. But no matter how desperately she wanted to talk about ANYTHING else, he wouldn't talk about anything else. When he asked her to be his girlfriend, she had absolutely no clue what to say other than, 'uh…maybe?' he hadn't taken that well, but he said it was fine if she wanted some time to decide. He was too patient at times.

"Well, he didn't really need to tell us. We kind of got it when he wouldn't say anything after school then broke the dinner table at dinner." So that was why they had gotten a new table. Guilt washed over her quicker than she would have preferred. "Oh don't worry, he wasn't mad at you. I think he was just upset you hadn't said no. He went around yelling, 'what did I do' and 'I thought everything was fine' and something about not understanding relationships. He broke a lot of stuff that night." The guilt defiantly did not go away. In fact it intensified. Hakuei was with about not understanding relationships though. Why was it so complicated? "Can I ask you something?" Hakuei had nodded. "Why didn't you say yes? Don't you like Sinbad?" she wished she had said no.

"It's…it's not that I don't like him…it's just that…is he asleep?" Aladdin jumped off of the bed to make sure. After he had poked him a few times he nodded in confirmation. "Good. Can you promise to not tell him?" once again Aladdin nodded. "Thank you. It's just…I'm not sure I'm ready to get that close to someone." Aladdin nodded so quickly she wondered if he really understood. It's hard to understand when he didn't know her very well.

"That's okay. Sinbad never thought he would be either." That caught her attention. That could not be true. He was so close to all of his friends. They all admired him and he trusted them so much. When Aladdin saw the shock on her face he laughed a little. "It's kind of surprising isn't it?"

"But…but his friends…Jafar and Masrur and," at that Aladdin saw his mistake and hurried to make it right.

"No, no I meant become close with someone romantically. He trust's his friends with his life." Hakuei was relieved at that. It would be too much of a shock if he didn't. "What I meant was, he always dated a lot of girls. Uh, I mean, did you know that? Maybe I wasn't supposed to say that." It wasn't that Hakuei didn't know, but it didn't make her the most comfortable talking about it. "What I was trying to say was that none of them lasted. I wouldn't have even known he dated so many if I didn't go to his school. He never brought any of them home. But he brought you here, even if it is just to work on a project. Sinbad always said he never cared too much and he didn't want to get involved with anyone…but then you came along. I've never seen him happier than when he is around you. And that's saying something, since he's usually such a happy guy!" no one could deny that. He was always so happy around his friends.

"The main thing is, don't worry about it," Aladdin finally finished. "Even though he won't say it, he's just as scared about this as you are. But he is more scared about losing you than that. If you feel the same way, than I'm sure everything will be okay!" he was saying it so easily, as if he made speeches like that on a regular day basis. She doubted he understood just how much that helped her. It wasn't in the same context, he didn't understand it was because she had lost someone, but the meaning still got to her.

"Ah…what time iz it?" they both looked over at Sinbad on the ground. It looked like their talking must have woken him up, because he stretched his arms over his head and yawned loudly. His eyes opened slowly and he surveyed his surroundings. "Oh, hey Hakuei…why's Aladdin in here?" Aladdin smiled and waved down at him.

"Hi Sinbad. I was just talking to Hakuei." Sinbad pulled himself up into a sitting position, stretching his neck to the side.

"Oh yeah? (Yawn) What were you talking about?" Hakuei turned to Aladdin and stared at him with pleading eyes. She didn't want him to know about this yet. She wasn't ready to tell him. When Aladdin saw her he winked, saying he got the message.

"Not much. Just how you broke a lot of stuff when she didn't say yes." Sinbad froze. His emotions seemed to flow like a wave. First it was emotionless, than it was shock, next it went to embarrassment, then finally ended in anger.

"ALADDIN! YOU DON'T TELL HER THINGS LIKE THAT!" Aladdin just tipped his head to the side in confusion.

"Why not?" Hakuei had a hard time not laughing when Sinbad grabbed him by his blue hair and began yelling at him as Aladdin just hung there in complete confusion. It was a scene that is hard to describe, but it was absolutely hilarious for Hakuei who sat a quiet audience in the background. Sinbad was yelling something about not embarrassing him in front of her, and Aladdin responded by saying that was what happened though, and Sinbad quickly hit him on the top of the head. Poor Aladdin.

He calmed down when Hakuei finally got him to put him down by saying, "Sin, I think Aladdin's had enough. Besides, I don't want my boyfriend to go to jail for child abuse."

End flashback

She should have guessed it was only temporary. He had his own life, and he shouldn't have to slow down his pace for someone else. It was selfish of her to assume he would want to. Deep down she wanted to be able to get over the death of her brothers. To pretend it didn't hurt as much as it did, to be able to let people in again, but she just couldn't. She wasn't ready, she was too afraid. Look where that had gotten her now.

"He must have walked home," she muttered to herself with a sigh as she started to get up. Before she could though a pair of arms hugged her from around the back. She gasped a bit in shock, but when she saw who it was her heart lifted. "S-Sin!"

"Of course! Who else would it be?" honestly, her younger brother Kouha loved to scare people. If his arms were a little bit shorter she would have guessed it was him. Sinbad sat next to her and she leaned into him with her head on his chest. She would not admit just how happy she was that he was still there. Lucky for her Sinbad didn't seem to notice her relief as he kissed her lightly on the top of her forehead. She blushed a little, and the look made Sinbad smile even more.

"You're alive. I was starting to think my brothers had killed you." Sinbad laughed at that one.

"I was starting to think they were going to. A few times they looked like they were going to bash my head in." Hakuei laughed a little bit as she held onto his free hand. She was so happy at that moment she didn't care who saw.

"Where did they take you anyway?" she thought it would be the library, that's where Kouen preferred to have important conversations. Or maybe he had brought him to the roof, where he could push him off the roof if he wanted.

"They took me to your father and brother's grave." And just like that her happy moment was gone. Replacing it was fear and worry that almost made her start to tremble. Seeing her worried state he held tighter onto her hand, calming her down. He wasn't angry. It wasn't impossible, but it was harder for him to get angry at Hakuei than anyone else. Of course they had their arguments all the time. Everyone argued. But Sinbad preferred to call it 'very loud decision making.' That wasn't what they were doing right then though. "Hakuei…why didn't you tell me?"

Many reasons ran through her head. It wasn't his business, they had died too long ago, it didn't bother her anymore, but all of those were lies. She didn't want to lie. It wouldn't do her any good. After a long pause she was able to give him the most honest answer she could think of.

"I wasn't ready to. To tell you that they were dead was…reopening a wound I had just fixed. And telling you, or anyone something so personal, it was like I was letting you get to close and…I don't know. I didn't want to risk it… I mean, it's just…Confusing." Hakuei sighed at her inability to put her emotions into words. But Sinbad was able to understand what she was saying, without her having to explain it all.

"Hakuei, I'm not going anywhere." Slightly confused she was about to ask him what that had to do with anything, but he continued. "You know I lost both of my parents. It's not a good feeling. But I think I know what you're trying to say. You're afraid to let me come closer because you think I'm just going to leave like they did, leaving you more alone than before. Hakuei, I know you're scared to lose someone else. I'm not going to leave like they did. I'm staying here, with you, for as long as you want me to. Trust me, there is nothing in this world that can make me leave, even your possibly haunted little brother Kouha." Hakuei laughed a silent laugh at that.

"I…it's just hard you know? It's easier to not let anyone in, to just pretend you don't care about anyone than to risk losing them. The pain is just too much, don't you think? I'm not strong enough to lose anyone else I care about. Just getting close to my new family was hard. They may be crazy, and harsh and strange, but at the same time they are kind and caring and loyal. Every night I worry that they might die someday as well, and I don't think I can take that. It's not…"

"Worth the risk?" she gulped, but nodded at his answer. He examined all of her words carefully before responding. "Hakuei, even though you say that I'm not sure you really believe it." Hakuei turned her head to look him in the eye. That didn't make any sense to her, but he went on to explain. "If you really believed it, why did you let your family in? You could have just as easily ignored all of them in that big house of yours. You could have said no to me when I asked you out. You may not be ready to admit it yet Hakuei, but the truth is you think it's worth it. All of them, even if you lose them, all the memories that you have made with them and times you've spent with them was all worth it.

It has been for me. When I lost my parents, I didn't think I would ever trust anyone again. I hated the orphanage more than anything else. Once I even tried to run away. Masrur and Jafar were the ones who, literally, carried me back. They said they didn't want me to leave, all of them. They said they trusted me, that they would be my new family, and they didn't want me to go. The lot of them all say they are grateful to me for all I've done, but the truth is I couldn't have gotten anywhere if it wasn't for them. I owe them far more than they will ever know. Even if they die one day as well, all that they have done for me won't go away. The pain that will come if they pass will be worth the times I've spent with them.

And you, you've been worth it. I never got close to any girl, as you probably know. None of them were worth it to me. They were all the same, only wanting the attention and a good time. For a while I thought that was all I wanted as well, but then you came along. For the first time I wanted more than that. I wanted to get close to someone as more than just a friend, and it could only be you. I'm not leaving, even if I wanted to. You're too important to me."

Hakuei was dumbstruck. She had no clue what to say. In less than a minute he had been able to completely destroy all of the fears that had been haunting her for more than a year. All of it was disproved, pushed away, gone! How could he say she was so important to him? He was so much more than she was! Sinbad waited for her to say something to no avail. In his head he began to worry he had gone too far. He did that a lot, said more than he had meant to. Sometimes that worried people. Had he scared her too much? "…You can say something whenever you want to you know." But she didn't know what to say. So instead she turned around and kissed him on the mouth. It was a deep kiss, one he was eager to return. To an onlooker it wouldn't look like it was worth much, but to the two of them it meant everything. As she pulled away she rested her forehead on his, and she heard him laugh a little under his breath. "That works to." She giggled a bit herself and Sinbad pulled her in for another kiss.

Then a soccer ball flew through the air and hit Sinbad in the back of the head. "OUCH!" the two of them pulled away as Sinbad rubbed the back of his head. "Where the heck did that come from?"

The two of them looked to where it had come from and Hakuei giggled a little as Sinbad went pale. Kouen, Koumei, Kougyoku, Kouha and Hakuryuu stood a ways away. Kouha was waving his hands around angrily in the air, yelling something but was too far away for them to hear. Hakuryuu and Koumei were trying to get him to calm down to no avail. Kougyoku had started blushing and turned away as soon as possible. Kouen was giving Sinbad the death glare. "They must have gotten worried when I didn't come back to the house," She said still giggling. Sinbad nodded, now absolutely positive that her youngest brother was a killer.

"How did he kick that far? And right at me?" Hakuei shrugged.

"I think Kouen taught him how to play." Looking at the death glare that Kouen was giving him, he was pretty sure that was true.

"I take it they will kill me if I kiss you again, huh?" Hakuei smiled and nodded. There was no doubt at that. Sinbad debated it for a while, but shrugged it off. "Worth it." And he kissed her again, ignoring the even louder and angrier screams of Kouha in the distance.

**the end! thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!**


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